If you’ve watched Nick Bosa play for the last two seasons at Ohio State, you probably weren’t surprised to see who ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported could be the early favorite to be the No. 1 overall pick in the 2019 NFL draft.
Two NFL personnel men predicted last week that the early favorite to become the No. 1 pick of the 2019 NFL Draft is....Ohio St. DE Nick Bosa. They believe hes going to be a better player than his older brother Joey.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) April 28, 2018
Just about as soon as Schefter hit send on that tweet, however, he was met with responses not only arguing that Bosa wouldn’t be the top prospect in the draft, but that he might not even be the best defensive lineman in next year’s draft.
That’s not because Bosa isn’t talented enough to be the best defensive lineman in next year’s draft or potentially even the No. 1 overall pick, but because the 2019 NFL draft’s class of defensive linemen projects to be one of the draft’s most talented groups of prospects at the position ever.
Bosa’s older brother, Joey, was the top defensive lineman selected in the 2016 NFL draft, in which the San Diego Chargers (who have since become the Los Angeles Chargers) selected him with the No. 3 overall pick. According to Schefter’s tweet, multiple NFL personnel executives believe Nick could be an even better prospect than Joey by the time he completes his junior season at Ohio State, after which he is expected to follow in his brother’s footsteps and declare for the draft after three years as a Buckeye.
Yet even if that comes to fruition, that still might not be enough to guarantee that Bosa will be the first defensive lineman selected next April.
Two years into his NFL career, Joey Bosa has been every bit the star defensive end he was expected to be, earning NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year honors in 2016 and a Pro Bowl selection in 2017. So if NFL talent evaluators legitimately believe that Nick Bosa can be as good or even better than his older brother, there’s no reason to think he won’t be among the draft’s top picks.
Joey Bosa, however, didn’t have to contend with nearly as much defensive line talent in 2016 as Nick Bosa will have to in 2019.
Outside of Nick Bosa, the most popular projection to be next year’s No. 1 overall pick as evaluators turn the page to the next draft cycle is Houston defensive tackle Ed Oliver, who already announced in March that he will enter next year's NFL draft.
Oliver has been a superstar in his first two seasons of college football, earning first-team All-American honors both years and winning the Outland Trophy as college football’s top interior lineman last season. A highly athletic defensive tackle built to excel in today’s game of football, where quick penetrators tend to steal the spotlight from massive run-stuffers, Oliver is well on his way to being a top-five overall pick in 2019 if he can continue to play at the same level in his final season as a Cougar.
Ed Oliver could be Nick Bosa's top competition to be the first defensive lineman selected in the 2019 NFL draft. John Glaser – USA TODAY Sports
Bosa and Oliver are far from the only defensive linemen who are projected to be among the top prospects in the 2019 draft. The Draft Wire’s Luke Easterling actually ranks defensive linemen as each of his top six prospects in his initial rankings for the 2019 draft, with Bosa (No. 1) and Oliver (No. 2) joined by Michigan’s Rashan Gary (No. 4) and three Clemson defensive linemen: Dexter Lawrence (No. 3), Christian Wilkins (No. 5) and Clelin Ferrell (No. 6).
While Bosa is the reigning Big Ten Defensive Lineman of the Year, Gary – the No. 1 overall recruit in the class of 2016 – could challenge Bosa for that award, and his reign as the top defensive line prospect for the 2019 draft, this season. He’s still just scratching the surface of his potential, but has demonstrated the ability to be a disruptive force at the defensive end position while he also has the size to potentially move inside and play 3-technique defensive tackle in the NFL.
Clemson, meanwhile, legitimately has four starting defensive linemen who could be first-round picks next year. Lawrence, the No. 2 overall recruit in the class of 2016, is a massive nose tackle who possesses a rare combination of size and athleticism, making him the projected top prospect among the Tigers’ defensive linemen. But Wilkins, a tremendously versatile player who has starred at both defensive tackle and defensive end for the Tigers, is also a top prospect. So is Ferrell, an explosive athlete who could be the best pure outside pass-rusher in the 2019 draft class. Austin Bryant, Clemson’s other starting defensive end, has a real chance to end up being a top-32 pick, too.
Yet another defensive lineman in the conversation to be a high first-round draft pick next year is Alabama’s Raekwon Davis, who ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr. included in his initial top-10 prospects for the 2019 draft along with Oliver, Bosa, Ferrell and Gary among defensive linemen.
— Joseph Duarte (@Joseph_Duarte) April 29, 2018
Should all of those players enter next year’s NFL draft, they’ll make up one of the deepest crops of first-round-caliber defensive linemen in draft history – and they’re not the only ones who could be in that conversation. In fact, Bosa shouldn’t even be the only Ohio State defensive lineman in the first-round conversation next year.
Dre’Mont Jones likely already would have been an early-round pick had he declared for the 2018 NFL draft, but the Ohio State defensive tackle decided to return for his redshirt junior season to try to get even better. And according to his Ohio State coaches, that’s exactly what he did this spring.
"Dre’Mont Jones has been elite," Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer said near the end of spring. "Even better than he was last year."
If that’s true, and Jones takes his game to another level this season – all the while likely playing a three-down role, instead of being taken off the field in pass-rushing situations like he was last year – then he, too, should be a first-round pick, and perhaps an early first-round pick, as he possesses top-notch physical attributes that NFL scouts should love.
While Bosa and Jones both have two more remaining seasons of eligibility at Ohio State, and neither has gone as far as Oliver in actually declaring for the draft already, both have suggested that this will be their final year as Buckeyes – a decision that should surprise no one if they make it, considering how highly Bosa is projected to be selected and that Jones, who was already draft-eligible last year, expects to graduate in December.
The one drawback to being in the 2019 draft class, though, is that the unusually high amount of first-round-caliber defensive linemen means that at least some of those defensive linemen will likely being drafted later than they would in most other drafts.
If Bosa ends up being the No. 1 overall prospect in next year’s draft as some expect, the depth of the defensive line class won’t affect him. If Jones has the season this fall that Ohio State’s coaches are making it sound like he is capable of, the depth of the class might not affect his draft stock too much, either. The fact that both Bosa and Jones are projected to be in the class, though, are just two of the reasons why the 2019 NFL draft’s crop of defensive linemen could be one of, if not the, best ever.
